- 150
Joan Miró
Estimate
220,000 - 280,000 GBP
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Description
- Joan Miró
- L'OISEAU NOCTURNE
- signed Miró (lower right); signed Miró, dated 24/1/62 twice and titled twice on the reverse
- oil, brush and ink, wash, pastel and wax crayons on paper
- 69.9 by 99.1cm., 27 1/2 by 39in.
Provenance
Edgardo Acosta Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection (acquired in December 1970; sale: Christie's, New York, 7th November 2001, lot 474)
Sale: Christie's, London, 6th February 2003, lot 502
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Private Collection (acquired in December 1970; sale: Christie's, New York, 7th November 2001, lot 474)
Sale: Christie's, London, 6th February 2003, lot 502
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Condition
Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. There are artist's pinholes at intervals on all four edges. There is a 2mm. support loss and minor nicks at intervals along the lower edge and a 0.5cm. support loss to the lower right corner. There is a pinhead-sized spot of paint loss in the hat of the left figure visible in the catalogue illustration. Apart from some mount staining to the extreme upper and right edges and some very light surface dirt, this work is in good condition.
Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Dating from 1962, the present work is influenced by the Abstract Expressionists and their utterly free use of paint and surface. Following a barren period of inspiration, the early 1960s saw the artist working with revived energy on pictures such as the present work, absorbing the artistic novelties of the new world.
Discussing Miró's paintings of the 1960s, Margit Rowell wrote: 'In Miró's anthropomorphic cycle of the sixties [...] the images are more schematic or reductive than any seen thus far. What is unprecedented is the fact that although we are conversant with the forms we are no longer interested in the primary associations of these images (personage, bird) but approach them at a level both more literal and more abstract. Attention is focused on the paint itself, compelled by its immanent expressivity as dynamic gesture, textured substance, chromatic value. What was formerly primary - the reading of the image as image - has become secondary. Contours that were merely contours here assume, through their breadth, texture, dynamic force, direction and open-endedness, the powers of calligraphic signs. The grounds are coarse and assertive. The swatches of color exist for their own sake, uncorrelated and unrefined' (Margit Rowell, Miró, New York, 1970, p. 20).
Discussing Miró's paintings of the 1960s, Margit Rowell wrote: 'In Miró's anthropomorphic cycle of the sixties [...] the images are more schematic or reductive than any seen thus far. What is unprecedented is the fact that although we are conversant with the forms we are no longer interested in the primary associations of these images (personage, bird) but approach them at a level both more literal and more abstract. Attention is focused on the paint itself, compelled by its immanent expressivity as dynamic gesture, textured substance, chromatic value. What was formerly primary - the reading of the image as image - has become secondary. Contours that were merely contours here assume, through their breadth, texture, dynamic force, direction and open-endedness, the powers of calligraphic signs. The grounds are coarse and assertive. The swatches of color exist for their own sake, uncorrelated and unrefined' (Margit Rowell, Miró, New York, 1970, p. 20).
Rowell adds that we cannot discount the referential content of these painitngs. In the striking lines and colour of the present work, the composition has indeed become more schematic than in his earlier work. The head or face of the Oiseau has been splayed against the surface, emphasising the flatness of the background by using the grey of the background as an integral part of the composition as well as the bold points of green and red: '...swatches of color [that] exist for their own sake'. While this work recalls the shape of an object/oiseau Miró schematises the lines and shapes towards an arrangement that celebrates the flatness of painting and the interaction of paint and surface.